View full sizeJerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerFormer Gov. Tom Kean sits in the new Thomas H. Kean Reading Room and Gallery at Drew University in Madison.

MADISON — The keynote address former Gov. Tom Kean delivered at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans is there, as is the speech he gave at a Young Republicans fundraiser in Lakewood in 1982.

The remarks he made at the State Little League Baseball Tournament in Livingston in 1985 can be read, as can his speech a few months later at the signing of the law that allowed for the divestment of public funds from South Africa.

"Bishop (Desmond) Tutu said to me later that this might have been the turning point," Kean said, referring to the collapse of South African’s Apartheid policies. "After that bill, other cities and states started to follow, and they recognized there could be financial repercussions."

From the mundane to the extraordinary, hundreds of pieces of New Jersey history — more than 2,600 speeches, personal letters and dozens of binders of daily briefings — can be found in the 125 boxes that make up the Thomas H. Kean Collection, given to Drew University in Madison by its former president.

"I had the job (as president of Drew) longer than any other job in my life," Kean, 76, said last week. "I figured it was appropriate to do it, and Drew wanted to do it."

One of the most popular political figures in the state and the last New Jersey governor to serve two full terms, Kean left office in 1990. The Republican leader then returned to education, spending the next 15 years as president of Drew.

On Saturday, the university celebrates the gift of his personal papers with the opening of the Thomas H. Kean Reading Room, a public research and study space within the Rose Memorial Library. Private donations totaling almost $1 million funded the renovation.

A newly commissioned mural stretching 63 feet depicts the Statehouse in Trenton and Drew’s iconic Mead Hall. A tapestry of an African village hangs on one wall: "An act of friendship" is how Kean describes the gift from Coretta Scott King, widow of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

View full sizeJerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerA photo on display at Drew University of then-Gov. Tom Kean (far left) with four previous New Jersey governors (left to right): Brendan T. Byrne, William T. Cahill, Richard J. Hughes, and Robert B. Meyner.

"I was one of the few Republicans Coretta ever endorsed," he said. "The Democrats told her not to, and she said ‘Martin would have.’"

On the opposite wall hangs a portrait of Kean in academic robes, a gift from the faculty upon his retirement. Overhead is a large crystal chandelier that had hung in his parents’ home in Livingston.

The elements celebrating art and history are appropriate for a space commemorating Kean, who is still widely revered as the state’s cultural godfather. A staunch advocate of state support for arts and history, Kean is the visionary behind the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

"Very few people ever see their dreams come true," he said of the arts center, which he considers one of his biggest accomplishments. "NJPAC was a gleam in my eye."

Giving a tour of the new reading room, Kean spoke of his hope that the collection and study hall will prod students into rediscovering a successful chapter of New Jersey history — a cooperative, bipartisan time in which the state flourished. Many achievements, like NJPAC, would not have been possible without cooperation and collaboration, he said.

"I had Democrats by my side. Everything we did, we did together," Kean said. "We created three-quarters of a million jobs in eight years. New Jersey was considered the leader in many things, in education, the environment.

"It was a different time, and it’s important for students to know that it was that way," he said.

In contrast to today’s rancor — and the belief political points are more important than real achievements — Kean said his era was marked by responsibility, and the desire to get things done.

"There was a sense of everybody getting together and doing the right thing," he said.

The collection of personal papers is arranged in nine sections that can be found on the library’s website. In addition to the speeches and other public documents, the archive includes letters, photographs from trips and conferences, press releases and other papers. A smaller portion of the collection includes records and speeches from Kean’s tenure as Drew’s president. During that time, many influential political and cultural figures — from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Dick Cheney, from James Earl Jones to Christopher Reeve to Bill Cosby — visited Drew.

Andrew Scrimgeour, dean of libraries, said the materials give students a first-hand look at the important issues of the day. He credits Kean, who was a teacher before turning to politics, for recognizing the value in the daily details of his governorship. For example, Scrimgeour said, a Kean aide saved every daily briefing the staff prepared. Those briefings were like a road map, sketching out where Kean appeared, who he met and in some cases, providing a short tutorial on why those people were important, he said.

"He had a sense that this was as valuable as the legislative record," Scrimgeour said. "It is these kind of things that have to be combed through to find the narrative that is the next textbook."

Work on there reading room began last summer. The old entrance to the Rose Memorial Library had contained stacks and study carrels. It now features tables for study, chairs and couches for conversation, and an alcove that will display some of the collection’s mementos, Scrimgeour said.

Researchers will find evidence of wasteful spending among the thousands and thousands of pages in the archive. A former teacher, Kean made a habit of visiting a New Jersey school every month to teach a class and meet with students.

"I cost the state a lot of money because I’d take the helicopter," he said, grinning at the memory. "The kids would line up to see it land.